Teen mum Emma Webb remembers the morning a North West Regional College (NWRC) lecturer changed the course of her life.
When she didn’t turn up to class at the college’s Strand Road Campus at the end of her second year Diploma in Health Sciences, Lecturer Karen Moore arrived at her front door, marched into Emma’s home and persuaded her to come to class.
It was a pivotal moment in Emma’s life. After successfully completing her Diploma, Emma went on to study at De Montfort University in England and is now due to graduate this winter with a Degree in Paediatric Nursing.
“If Karen hadn’t come to the house that day, I wouldn’t be where I am now,” said Emma. “People think that when you come to college no one pushes you to succeed, and yes, you have to push yourself, but so do your lecturers.
“Near the end of my course at NWRC I decided I wasn’t going to do it anymore, I was going through a tough time and I didn’t come in that day.
“Karen Moore messaged me and asked me where I was? I didn’t message her back. She landed at my house and told me she wasn’t leaving until I came with her.
“I didn’t want to go, it was too much work, but Karen told me – ‘I believe in you, you can’t see it yet, but you are going to be brilliant someday, I want you to realise that. You have come so far I want you to pass.’”
After the birth of her son in 2006, Emma decided to enrol at NWRC after meeting a friend who had previously studied Health at the college and had gone on to midwifery, as the college allowed for more flexibility in juggling being a mammy and studying full time.
“I messaged the college and it was Karen Moore who replied to me,” said Emma. “The course had already started but Karen told me to come over. I didn’t have the grade I needed in maths at the time and she explained that I could do my Maths alongside my diploma.
“Looking back it was tough. Callum was so young, I was so young and I was trying to cope with being a mammy and get my life together. I knew what I wanted to do, but I didn’t know how to push for it.
“Karen was there for me – if I didn’t turn up to college she was contacting me asking where I was. I know now that without her I would never have pushed myself to do it.”
She said the flexibility of college helped her as a teenage mum with so much support and advice available.
She continued: “I loved doing my hospital placement at NWRC. Karen put me in the post-natal and ante-natal wards. I loved bathing babies, showing mammies to make up bottles and helping mammies put on nappies. My placement was on Mondays from 8.30 – 4.30 and I would stay on till 6. I just didn’t want to leave.
“Every Monday I looked forward to going to placement. In fact in my heart I knew I could easily turn up every day, do the job and not get paid, I just loved it
“During my time there Karen made us keep a diary detailing our experiences and how we were feeling about our placements. When Karen read mine, she remarked that it was very baby and child focussed and told me I’d be suited to a career in midwifery or nursing.
“I had a brother and two sisters with genetic disorders and they were really sick, I think because of having that in our family I had a natural ability for caring but I didn’t realise that until I was older.”
Emma passed her course and went on to complete her GCSE Maths and English at NWRC, securing her place at De Montfort University.
“NWRC provided me with the extra qualifications I needed to get to university” said Emma. “And the skills that I learned here are the skills I took to Uni.
“NWRC helped me to become more mature and experienced, this has helped me a lot at uni and my experiences have shaped me.
“I laugh now when I think of Karen coming to my home that day and the things she said to me. I finally get it. She was forever pushing me, she said I believe in you and that meant so much. I could never have seen myself coming this far.
“To have a good lecturer or mentor behind you, is so important.
“I’ve now found my calling and I’m doing the job I love. It doesn’t feel like a job because I love it so much. If I hadn’t been exposed to it as a student at NWRC, I would never have known that this was what I wanted to do.
“I’d encourage anyone interested in a career like this to come to NWRC, this experience changed everything for me.”
NWRC Results Day
With exam results soon to arrive, your next step is just around the corner. There are so many options to choose from, and, if you have still to decide on what’s next and have not yet applied to NWRC, then we are ready to help!
NWRC courses are designed to set you on the right career path for you – we have courses that prepare you for employment, as well as those designed to progress you to higher level study. The best way to discover if we can help you achieve your ambitions is to visit our 2019 RESULTS DAYS.
These will be held in our Strabane, Limavady and Strand Road Derry~Londonderry campuses:
- Thursday 15th August(Strand Rd campus only): 10 am – 4:30pm
- Friday 16th August(Strand Rd campus only): 10 am – 4:30pm
- Thursday 22nd August: 10 am – 4:30pm
- Friday 23rd August: 10 am – 4:30pm
- Tuesday 27thAugust: 10 am – 4:30pm
